1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for providing data security, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for a workflow configured to safeguard clinical and other confidential data.
2. Description of Related Art
As will be appreciated, facilities, such as, but not limited to, hospitals, clinics, financial institutions, gather and store huge volumes of sensitive and confidential information. By way of example, hospitals may acquire and store clinical data associated with patients, such as HIV or Hepatitis related data or clinical research findings. Unfortunately, there have been incidents where the data has been hacked by unauthorized users or hackers. This information may then be abused for financial or other forms of gain.
Currently, there exist techniques configured to secure the confidential information. However, these techniques typically provide only a first level of security. In other words, these techniques generally require a user to input a user identification code and a corresponding password and direct the user to the confidential information or data. Also, the currently available techniques typically notify the user of a failed login attempt, thereby prompting/encouraging the user to attempt to relogin into a system to access the confidential information. In addition, there exist techniques that are configured to provide multiple levels of security to the confidential data by requesting the user to input the user identification and password at each of the levels. If there is a match at any of the levels, confidential information corresponding to that level may be displayed to the user.
It may therefore be desirable to develop a robust technique and system configured to aid in protecting confidential and sensitive data that may be stored in a data repository that advantageously facilitates enhanced workflow, while simultaneously preventing unauthorized access to the stored data. In particular, there is a need for a system that is configured to facilitate providing security to the data at a plurality of levels, while maintaining the security of the data at a high level.